Help, I've Been Robbed!
Today’s Verse:
The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law. ~Psalm 119:61
According to the FBI, there were 282,061 robberies in the United States in 2018. As a victim of a robbery, money or goods have been taken away from you. In some cases, violent robberies result in injury to the victim. The psalmist said that a company of wicked people robbed him. Let us see how he responded to the injustice that happened to him.
We see the grief.
When you’ve been robbed, something valuable is taken away. Satan is a thief and a robber. He enters through unlocked doors and windows to rob us of the joy, peace, love, and zeal that God gives us. He wants to steal marital bliss from a happily-married couple. He seeks to steal the joy from someone who is serving the Lord. He wants to rob us of our prayer and devotion time with the Lord. When he is successful in stealing from us, he leaves us with anxiety, anger, frustration, fear, and reservation.
We see the gratitude.
“At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.” Instead of tossing and turning with anxiety and bad thoughts, the psalmist rose up at midnight to give thanks. After Paul and Silas had been badly beaten and cast into prison, they prayed and gave thanks to God at midnight. The best response to a sleepless night when you have been hurt is to get up and thank the Lord. We must respond to difficult times with a heart of praise and thanksgiving.
We see the godliness.
“I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.” He approached his adversity in godliness. He did not look at his adversity as “what this did to him," but, instead, he looked at it as “what it did for him.” First, he poured his heart out to God in prayer. Many times, God will not correct the bad that has happened to us, but He allows this into our life so that we become people of prayer and increase in our prayer discipline: this is good and godly. Second, there were a lot of thoughts that passed through his mind, but he turned his direction towards God’s Word and wanted to know what it had to say to him. See your bad situation as an opportunity to grow in godliness.
We see the gravitation.
“I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.” Many people tend to drift from God and His Word when adversity comes. The psalmist made haste and was obedient to the Word of the Lord. This is important to keep our hears tender. Then, he made sure that he was in the right company of people. “I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.” He kept himself close to Christians who feared God and obeyed His Word. When bad things happen to you, it is important that you have God-fearing friends in your corner praying for you and keeping you accountable.
He concluded that the earth is full of God’s mercy. He saw that God, in His mercy, did not allow his situation to be worse than it was and that it was an opportunity for God to grow him in grace. Don’t let the adversities in life overcome you. By God’s grace, grow through it and rejoice!
Have a grace-filled God Morning!
Bible Reading Schedule: Mark 4-5